Did I ever tell you about the time I gave a command performance for Hitler?

Or: What a joy! It’s M-G-M’s Technicolor musical!

An American in Paris might be the perfect example of what I was talking about yesterday. Here’s a movie that’s doing some really cool things, but it seems totally benign because of the ending and the format. 
 
Jerry Mulligan is a starving artist in Montmartre. He’s got some talent [...]

Cabaret and the Anarchy of The Musical

Last week I watched Cabaret and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, Liza Minnelli is hard to look at, but her dance moves (choreographed by Bob Fosse) more than made up for that. And, I ask you, who could more convincingly turn Michael York straight?

So, here is the story of a wanna-be actress living in Berlin in [...]

Double Feature Friday

This last weekend my kid brother came up to stay at Casa Borknopf (aka: The Knorup House). In addition to playing hours of Halo, consuming jugs of lemonade, and setting Scott’s work uniform on fire, we also found time to do one of my favorite things: watch an ungodly number of movies. Among those was [...]

It’s a Filibuster!

I just watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington for the first time. I loved it, like everyone else does, I guess. It’s definitely the best Senate movie I think I’ve seen, although Advise and Consent is pretty compelling. This one is just so straight-forward. So 1930s American Dream. Just as the U.S. is finally pulling [...]

Let’s Hug it Out, uh…Bitch?

Lately I’ve been watching a lot fewer movies, and a lot more Entourage. Hey, if it’s good enough for Obama it should be good enough for me, right? Sure, it’s a little repetitive, a little over the top, and a lot sexist, but it’s fun and entertaining and that’s all I really want from my [...]

birds+amphibians+reptiles=dinosaurs?

i’ve read a couple books by steven powers.  one was about computers, the early internet and the computational theory of the mind and how they all function using a similar language, namely binary (or 1/0 or presence/absence).  in my brain, all the signifiers are confused, but it’s like neurons either firing or not firing (binary) [...]